Proposed lead phase-out in Indian Gasoline and changing international petroleum market have led to large and rapid variations of feed costs and availability. In the present scenario, an important factor to boost profitability is to take advantage of those variations and to produce high value and high demand products. Different petroleum feedstocks such as aromatic extraction raffinate and naphtha, specially light naphtha are considered only as fuel or feedstock for stem cracking and syngas production during long periods. This is due to high vapour pressure (RVP) and low octane rating of these feedstocks. They are also non-reformable by conventional catalytic-reforming processes. These non-economically viable petroleum feedstocks can effectively be converted to valuable aromatics such as LPG and other useful by- products.
In India, total naphtha production in 1991-92 was 3.85 MMTPA which is expected to increase to 6.98 MMTPA by 1996-76. During the same time, the demand for high octane gasoline and LPG is expected to increase drastically. At the end of 9th Indian five year plan (2001-2). The deficit between production and demand for LPG is projected to be 5.837 MMTPA ; while that for motor gasoline will be 1.524 MMTPA. Hence, good amount of foreign exchange has to be spent to import these two products as the demand can not be set by indigenous resources.
In today's changing world petroleum market, it is essential to update the process strategies needed to make best profits. Hence, today's aromatic and gasoline processing complexes need versatility to be able to process cheaper, sometimes unwanted and varibly available feedstocks. It will be quite attractive and economical to convert such feedstocks into aromatic hydrocarbons boiling in the gasoline range, and LPG, utilising the shape selective features of medium pore zeolite molecular sieve.
Aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes(BTX) are also used as feedstocks for the preparation of chemical and petrochemical products. Aromatics chemicals constitute about one third of the total organic compounds known today. They are important chemical precursors for the production of detergent and polymers among others.